Three trends we saw at CES

Miles walked: Over 50.

Booths visited: Dozens.

Takeaways: Three.

IT Brew went to CES ’23 earlier this month to see what the tech world has in store as we head into a new year. The massive convention, held in Las Vegas, offers industry analysts, buyers, media, and exhibitors the opportunity to scope out the state of tech and look to the future of the sector.

There were gadgets galore and exhibits big and small—we’ll have ongoing coverage from what we saw over the next few weeks. But first, our three big takeaways on what’s likely to be moving the tech world forward, how that affects IT, and how cybersecurity impacts nearly every company now.

The rEVolution is coming—quick.

Electric vehicles are here. Automotive companies are deploying their long-awaited rechargeable vehicle while established electronics giants—like Sony, which unveiled its Honda-affiliated Afeela car—are entering the market. Some companies, like Peugeot, had their autonomous prototypes on hand.

The internal combustion engine isn’t going extinct quite yet, but a wholesale shift in car culture is well underway—and with it, as BlackBerry CTO Charles Eagan told IT Brew, will come security challenges alongside opportunities.

“Every time we build a new infrastructure, we learn from the past,” Eagan said. “So, the software-defined vehicle will be more secure than the mobile phone, which is more secure than the computer.”

Every company is an IT company now, and they’ll continue to need help.

In practical terms, if you’re in IT, the increase in availability of IoT products and the digital infrastructure that binds them together means you’re going to keep getting work. As IT Brew has reported, we’ve seen this already in the tech job market. Larger companies are shedding workers but those laid off aren’t having to wait around for work as smaller firms of all kinds are hiring IT professionals.

People with skill sets that focus on security and site management should expect to stay in demand.

It’s a whole new world, Jason Daly, director of production systems technology and marketing at John Deere, told IT Brew.

“The opportunities in the digital world pose challenges, but opportunities abound,” Daly said. “This is where, yes, it might be a bit scary or concerning yet we find the digital world is enabling customers to have more access to information, access to being more responsible, more sustainable, and then having proof points along the way.”

Data security threats are everywhere.

As the world becomes more digitized and interconnected, expect to see a corresponding rise in security threats. We talked to a number of manufacturers and firms about digital hygiene and the threats presented to sensitive data from threat actors.

The opportunity provided by increased connectivity is raising the possibility of breaches that could expose sensitive data and open the door to harmful hacks. That’s most dangerous when it comes to car software—hackers getting control of your vehicle could lead to disasters—but it’s also true of health IT, where your most personal and sensitive information can be exposed to malicious interests.

According to Julius Dewavrin, a product manager at Withings, a French health services company that made a splash this year at CES with its U-Scan home urine analysis tester, the threats are real. And the response is too.

“Withings, like many global companies, is attacked on a daily basis,” Dewavrin told IT Brew. “The team is prepared for better or worse…and the data is encrypted.”—EH

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